Hectic lobbying for nominations of boards and corporations

After having failed to obtain tickets for the Assembly elections 2013, the women Congress workers are now pinning hopes on being nominated to the Boards and Corporations at least.

Now that the elections are over and the government has been formed, local Congress leaders of Mysore are learnt to be persuading their leaders to recommend their names to head the Boards and Corporations.

And to give them competition are the women leaders of the party, whose major contention is that they were denied tickets to contest the elections.

District Congress Committee (DCC) Women’s Wing President Meena Thoogudeep, who had made an attempt to get a ticket, had failed. It was the same with Mallige Veeresh,  former president of Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd (Mylac); Susheela Keshavmurthy, former chairman of Zoo Authority of Karnataka and many others who despite trying their best to persuade the High Command, had failed to get tickets.

But the women leaders and workers are in no mood to give up -- even those who had kept away from public life. They are trying to coax the senior leaders to nominate them to the five authorities in the city. 

Ex-Mayor Modamani, senior Congress leader Prabhamani, ex membe of Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) member Latha Mohan and others are in the competition, according to party sources.

Though it is said that the nominations would not be made till completion of Parliamentary elections, aspirants have been approaching the leaders in their favour. Meanwhile the favourite among the aspirants has been the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), for which most of them are jockeying. 

MLC or MUDA chair

Mallige Veeresh told Deccan Herald that women of the party had been meted with injustice during the elections. She said that there were many eligible candidates among women who are equally capable of handling any charge. “Unlike men, women aren’t corrupt,” she added.

She demanded that the High Command accommodate two women for each board for 2.5 years each. “I am aspiring for the MLC seat. But if that doesn’t work out then I will insist on the MUDA post,” she said. She argued that Lingayats and woman from Mysore, Mandya and Hassan districts had been neglected by the party during the elections.

“There is KPCC meeting on May 28 at Bangalore. I will raise this issue there,” she added.
District Congress Committee President C Dasegowda, who refused to take any names however conceded that many aspirants had already begun to approach him and the other leaders. He said that the aspirants had met ministers and MLAs of Mysore region, and also those ministers who are well known to them.

Though Dasegowda is himself an aspirant, he refused to comment on it.

Another senior leader said that aspirants were approaching leaders by playing the caste or community card.

Command Area Development Authority, Karnataka Exhibition Authority, Karnataka Zoo Authority, Mysore Urban Development Authority and Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd.
Ex mayors in the race

Ex mayors, to name a few, T B Chikkanna, Ananthu, Arif Hussain, Ayub Khan and others are in the race. DCC general secretary Shoukat Ali Khan, Ananthu and Hussian are all trying for Mylac. Khan has been a close aide of MP A H Vishwanath. He is also said to have been assured by many other Congress leaders that he would be considered.

General secretary of DCC and a follower of Dinesh Gundurao, L Bhaskar, said that he would accept any responsibility given to him and that he wasn’t too particular about being nominated to the boards and corporations.